Barnet v Accrington Stanley

16 November 2012

BYRNE MARKS THE SPOT

Barnet added a point to their total by virtue of this 1-1 draw against Accrington Stanley at Underhill and there are two ways of looking at the result. Firstly you could say that this was the kind of match that the Bees need to win or you could argue that after finishing the game with ten-men and being a goal behind in the second-half a draw is certainly better than no return at all. There is possibly merit in both stances.

There was a welcome return to the line-up for Ricky Holmes after a six week absence, a start for Jon Nurse out on the right wing and a fit-again Jordan Brown resumed his role at left-back. Making way were Antony Edgar, Andy Yiadom and Elliot Johnson.

The return of Holmes did give the Bees a more potent goal threat and in the first-half in particular, with Nurse also performing well on the right the Bees did get a good number of quality deliveries into the box from wide positions.

The game took a little time to settle but slowly the Bees asserted themselves and restricted Stanley to the occasional forays forward and looked the most likely to break the deadlock.

Mark Byrne came close when his effort hit the bar and Nurse had a couple of half-chances as the Bees looked to establish a first-half lead their quality of play merited.

The visitors started the second period in a much more determined mood and quickly took control of proceedings and with eight minutes of the half gone they took the lead.

The Barnet defence seemed to open up to allow Rommy Boco in on goal. Graham Stack did very well to block the initial effort on goal but in doing so the ball ricocheted off the shin of the Benin international into the net.

Stanley were now looking the better outfit but the Bees did show the mental resolve to get back into the game.

On 71 minutes the Bees drew level. Referee Collins gave a penalty for an incident few saw. Assistant Buonassisi indicated to his superior that Luke Joyce had made an illegal challenge on Holmes. Byrne’s first attempt was saved, but due to encroachment he was given a second opportunity which this time he took.

Stanley now felt that decisions were going against them and allowed this to upset their rhythm.

Peter Murphy did have the ball in the net for the visitors but it was adjudged offside.

Both sides had chances to win the game as the match and the outcome became very difficult to predict.

At the whistle both sides seemed content with the draw, although it could have gone either way.

Barnet deserve something for a good solid first half display, although you couldn’t ignore the improvement in Stanley’s play in the second-half.

The Bees are at home to Oxford United on Tuesday evening and will be without Edgar Davids who collected two yellow cards in the match.